Yellowstone cutthroat trout
| Yellowstone cutthroat trout | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Oncorhynchus |
| Species: | O. clarkii |
| Subspecies: | O. c. bouvieri |
| Trinomial name | |
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Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883) |
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The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri) is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). Native only to a few U.S. states, their original range was upstream of Shoshone Falls on the Snake River and tributaries in Wyoming, also across the Continental Divide in Yellowstone Lake and in the Yellowstone River as well as its tributaries downstream to the Tongue River in Montana. The species is also found in Idaho, Utah and Nevada.
The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is a prized game fish. Fly fishing is the most popular angling method because the subspecies feeds primarily on insects as adults, unlike introduced brown trout which are more piscivorous. Most varieties of cutthroat trout are less wary and selective than other trout species, thus angler success rates are higher.
Yellowstone cutthroat can be distinguished from other subspecies by their larger black spots that are clustered towards the tail, and by their gray, gold, or copper hues. Spawning males, especially, typically wear golden brown colors. All cutthroats can be differentiated from rainbow trout by red, pink, or orange marking beneath the jaw that give the species its name.
Depending on habitat, Yellowstone cutthroat can range from six to twenty-six inches as adults, with six to ten inches common in high-elevation, high-gradient tributary streams and the largest fish found only in lakes or in spawning tributaries that feed lakes or emerge from them, such as the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park. As a general rule, cutthroat in streams and small ponds run from ten to eighteen inches as adults, with a weight of one half to two pounds. Before habitat destruction, the threats presented by introduced species, and overfishing, they could run much larger, with fish over thirty inches reported, especially in the strain present in Heart Lake in the southeastern portion of Yellowstone National Park.
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Wikipedia